ARLINGTON, Texas — Aaron Hicks had two of the Yankees’ hardest-hit balls on Saturday night, but given their 2-0 loss to the Rangers and the way his season has gone so far, they were of little solace.
Neither ball that Hicks smoked went down as a hit, and his 0-for-3 night sunk him to 5-for-40 (.125) on the season with a .330 OPS.
“I need results,” Hicks said. “I need results.”
Hicks did make a strong defensive play in the gap to save a pair of runs in the third inning, after he entered the game in left field the second inning for the injured Jake Bauers, but otherwise he had little to show for his efforts.
In the fifth inning, with two outs, a runner on second and the game still scoreless, Hicks roped a ball 105.2 mph off the bat against Nathan Eovaldi.
Second baseman Marcus Semien, however, ranged to his left to pick it and end the inning.
Then in the eighth, Hicks drilled an Eovaldi pitch 97.1 mph off the bat to right field, but it ended up in the glove of right fielder Adolis Garcia, who was just in front of the wall.
“I’m chasing hits right now,” Hicks said. “Yes, I do want to hit the ball hard and stuff like that. But I also want to come up with big opportunities for my team right there. That ball gets through my second at-bat, maybe we got a [2-1] game instead of 2-0. Obviously the ball that didn’t get out, that would be nice as well.”
With the injuries to Bauers (right knee contusion) and Aaron Judge (mild hip strain), Hicks could continue to see playing time in the outfield in the coming days.
Jonathan Loaisiga (elbow inflammation) is in a no-throw shutdown after the results of an MRI exam on Friday looked “similar” to the one he had earlier this month, according to Boone. The reliever is set to meet with team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad on Monday.
“Nothing structurally alarming,” Boone said.
Wandy Peralta had not pitched since Monday against the Twins, with the Yankees staying away from him because he was “a little beat up,” Boone said. But Peralta returned to pitch a scoreless eighth inning Saturday.